Halloween Sakura has an overly specialized stat spread, focusing primarily on Attack, Speed, and Resistance. As her primary role is as a mage killer, investing more in these stats is highly recommended as the other stats are much less relevant to her role.

Boons

+ATK: Attack is particularly important for builds that rely on Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle due to its boosted scaling with the effective damage. Outside of those builds, while it is beneficial for Sakura to deal more damage, it is less preferable compared to Speed.

+SPD: Speed has always been a double-purposed stat that assists in many different functions. Sakura however relies mainly on her weapon’s effective damage for her typical anti-mage / anti-infantry builds and thus requires Attack more for those circumstances. Nonetheless, Speed is still a fantastic boon for her as it improves her survivability, offense, and also her ability to reliably run utility-based builds such as a Windsweep debuff build.

Neutral

RES: Resistance is pivotal to her ability to bait high damage mages such as cavalry or flier mages. Sakura does hit a nice threshold of 34 Resistance at neutral and thus is best to be left that way.

HP: While HP is less influential on Sakura’s survivability against mages than Resistance, it is still preferable to leave it untouched to further improve her mage matchups.

Banes

-DEF: Easily Halloween Sakura’s weakest stat. Even without a boon this stat is too low to have a meaningful impact on her survivability against physical threats

Halloween Sakura’s claim to fame is her cute but deadly paddle, which she uses to decimate any mages foolish enough to come across her. This is by far her best and most practical build, providing her a niche that is highly relevant in Arena Assault, but will fall off short if she is a core member of regular Arena team.

Kitty Paddle is the main premise of this build, allowing her to oneshot the majority of low physical bulk mages and heavily dent bulky ones. Due to the 50% bonus to damage from Kitty Paddle against mages, an Attack boon and Glimmer are ideal for this build.

As her main role is to bait mages (which is often easier than aiming to initiate on them), Halloween Sakura would most prefer to have high Resistance to tank her enemy’s initial hit. Furthermore, as stated above, Attack is highly valuable to increase her one-shot potential. Thus, skills that can increase both of these two stats are fantastic choices on her.

Atk/Res Bond is one example of such a skill. Not only does it grant Halloween Sakura the two stats she wants the most, it also works in Player Phase provided she initiates when standing near an ally, providing her a way to be useful in such circumstances. Other alternatives include Mirror Stance, Fierce Stance or Warding Stance, which perform similarly on Enemy Phase, but do nothing for her Player Phase.

For her B slot, Guard allows her to prevent units that are reliant on Specials to deal meaningful damage, such as Reinhardt or Bold Fighter armor mages. Quick Riposte is another good choice and goes well with a Distant Defense Sacred Seal, giving her more kill pressure at the cost of less security against said Special-reliant mages. Dull Ranged is another interesting choice, allowing her to nullify mages that are heavily reliant on Blade tomes, such as many flier, armor, and cavalry mages.

It is worth noting that having a good base Resistance results in being able to run Ploy skills with great success. Skills such as Def Ploy or Atk Ploy not only improve Halloween Sakura’s combat ability against certain matchups, they also help allies when she is not able to contribute.

Halloween Sakura has a nice Attack and Speed spread for a dagger user, with the option to run either Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle. This make her a potent Player Phase nuker that specializes on taking out one type of enemy on initiation.

Similar to her optimal build, an Attack boon and Glimmer are ideal to maximized her one-shot potential. Iceberg is a decent alternative when fighting against tankier foes and takes advantage of her great Resistance. With a Speed boon, her Speed reaches 37 before any skills or buffs kick in, and thus also enables her to go for a Speed-oriented build that focus on getting double attacks.

Outside of the two obvious choices in Kitty Paddle and Poison Dagger for coverage, Halloween Sakura's high Speed allows her to run alternatives such as Kagami Mochi or Lethal Carrot, both giving her great kill pressure against general enemies instead of just mages or infantries. However, they will also make her more dependent on Desperation to activate her Special. Kagami Mochi is the better choice compared to Lethal Carrot, as Sakura has enough Attack to deliver a big dent against most enemies with 1 turn Glimmer.

As this build is focused solely on Player Phase, skills that are activated when Sakura initiates is preferable, namely Death Blow or Swift Sparrow. Death Blow is much better for an Attack boon Sakura, while a Speed one will prefer Swift Sparrow to have the possibility of doubling her target should her first hit fail to kill. Fury is a good budget alternative that also goes well with Desperation, and the stats boost from it allow Sakura to more reliably take a hit in Enemy Phase from various mages.

Aside from Desperation, Guard is a good skill for her to initiate on units with decent physical bulk and powerful Special-based builds, for example Ayra or units running Steady Breath or Vengeful Fighter. Swordbreaker or any other breaker grants her better coverage depending on the threats she need to handle for the team.

Spd Ploy is, once again, her best standalone C slot as it boosts her damage output tremendously while also granting her utility. Aside from Spd Ploy, Def Ploy is a good option for her one shot build.

A dagger user with good enough Speed will always make a fantastic debuffer and chip damage dealer. Halloween Sakura is no exception, with enough Speed to run a Windsweep build against the majority of meta threats, and enough Attack to leaves a scar on most units she run into.

This build is revolves around a strong debuff weapon, with Smoke Dagger being the best candidate thanks to its powerful AoE debuff. Rogue Dagger is a decent alternative, which is able to buff her team as well, but at the cost of the debuff itself being weaker. Without the bonus damage from Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle, Sakura will go best with Iceberg or Glacies to do meaningful damage in extended engagements.

As this build requires Windsweep to bypass powerful physical tanks, Speed refine and Speed boon are ideal. Phantom Speed should also be considered, as without it Sakura will find it hard to initiate on high Speed meta units like Mia or Ayra. To further facilitate this, her A skill should grant her Speed on initiation, with the ideal choice being Swift Sparrow, Life and Death, or Darting Blow.

Stacking Savage Blow makes her a fearsome chip damage dealer on top of her debuff utility. Ploy skills are also fantastic options for her C slot, granting her utility when the team encounters dragon units whom Windsweep does not work against.

Introduction

Halloween Sakura is an exclusive 5 star dagger user with particularly specialized stats. Characterized with good Attack, high Speed and great Resistance, but terrible Defense and HP, she excels as a mage killer, infantry killer, or a dedicated debuffer. She is most similar to Felicia as an anti-mage unit with a worse weapon choice but better stat spread, and is comparable to Kagero as an offensive dagger user.

She works well as a specialist against mage-centric teams, but falls off against anything else. The gentle nekomata suffers from the same problem every other dagger unit encounters: The whole class lacks the pure firepower other classes possess, and needs to rely on weapons which specialize on certain targets to be useful. This generally reduces them to nothing but Arena Assault picks to counter specific units rather than being part of a good Arena core able to face off any team.

Strengths

Good base Attack for a dagger user

32 base Attack at neutral is not on the level of Kagero, but definitely sufficient to run weapons like Kitty Paddle or Poison Dagger, making her a dangerous nuker to a particular subset of enemies.

Good base Speed

For Sakura, Speed is a particularly important stat and she is certainly not lacking in this aspect. Not only does it improve her dueling potential and damage output against high Speed magic threats, it also allows her to run a utility-based build with skills like Windsweep.

High Resistance

Sakura trades Defense for Resistance, making her a very effective tank against mages. While her Resistance is not as monstrous as Felicia’s, it is plenty good enough to let her be be a dedicated mage hunter.

Access to anti-infantry, anti-mage and debuff weapons

Being a dagger user, Sakura can utilize dagger weapon with powerful effects like Poison Dagger, Kitty Paddle, or Smoke Dagger, and has the stat spread to make good use of them.

Weaknesses

Poor physical bulk

Sakura has horrifically low Defense and an equally unimpressive base HP. She is extremely vulnerable to physical attacks and it is highly recommended that she avoids taking any form of damage from physical tanks and dragons.

Suffers from over-specialization

Similar to most of her dagger-wielding friends, Sakura is too specialized for her job. She either works to deal with mages or infantry (or both), which causes her to lose power against other type of units. This hurts her viability for an Arena core, which generally prefers heroes who can face multiple types of enemies. As a result, Sakura is best utilized as an Arena Assault unit than a main core of an Arena team.

Team Options

There aren’t many particularly great options as a teammate for Halloween Sakura, as her roles are mostly niche and she is not commonly used as a staple. Generally, units that can boost her damage output, protect her from physical damage and benefit from her taking out mages are strong teammates.

Singers / Dancers: Dancers and Singers are always great teammates to have. Amongst them, there are no other dancers that are better than the two ballad ladies. New Year Azura provides more mobility through Guidance and is much better at protecting Sakura, while Performing Azura boosts Sakura’s offensive ability even further with Urðr’s stat boost.

Buffers / Debuffers: Powerful stat boosters or debuffers such as Marth, Sanaki, Brave Lucina, Gunnthra, or Eirika can enhance Sakura’s performance, while also appreciate her taking out mages or infantries.

Bulky tanks that are weak to magic: Physical powerhouses that aren’t entirely the best at taking attacks from mages such as Zelgius, Hector, Lukas or Effie will appreciate Halloween Sakura’s presence.

Counters

Halloween Sakura has a clear weakness against physical damage with her poor HP and Defense. She is most helpless against units that she does not have a way to circumvent with her bonus damage from Kitty Paddle or Poison Dagger, and it is advisable to avoid taking physical damage altogether with her and focus on taking out mages.

Bulky Armors with Distant Counter: Aside from running Windsweep and debuffing them, Halloween Sakura has no way to penetrate these armor units’ defense. Worst of all, most of them often pack Distant Counter or have a Distant Counter weapon, and can often take out Halloween Sakura with one attack. Notable examples include Fallen Hardin, Fallen Robin (F), Hector (LA) or Zelgius.

Dragon units: Dragons such as Nowi, Young Tiki, Myrrh or Legendary Robin (F) are capable of targeting her weak Defense through refined breaths and most of them pack either Distant Counter or Lightning Breath, allowing them to counter Halloween Sakura easily. Without Poison Dagger, she will also find it extremely tough to get through their bulk.

Ok,So. This Is My First Build So If It Isn't The Best I'm Sorry.
This Build Is Meant For Sakura To Leave Her Actual Role To Get In A Killer Mode.
Let's Start With The Weapon:The Barb Shuriken+. I Choosed To Use This Dagger For The Ability To Accelerates The Special Trigger, So Sakura Can Actually Activate Iceberg Immediatly Against Ranged Weapons,Dragons,Mages,Hectors(Yeah, Sakura Can Survive A Hit From A L!Hector) And So Go On.

Pivot Is Perfect For Her To Escape Some Units That Are To Strong For Her, So You Can Use A Tank Or Someone Who Actually Can't Die From The Enemy.

Iceberg:I Think I Already Explained But Let's Considerate That Sakura Have a Beautiful Natural Resistance Of 36, And Iceberg Boost The Damage By Resistance Of The 50%.

Her Skillset Is Very,Very Expensive(I Killed, B!Lyn,Walhart, And a +Atk Ishtar) But Trust Me, It's Worth.

Swift Sparrow: Perfect To Match With Odd Atk Wave,Spd Ploy And Chill Def, Considering That She'll Have The Atk Of 57 During The Duel.

To max out the offensive powers of our lovely Kitty, Improvements need to be made to her Attack and Speed, being +Spd is just fine, however +atk is a far better boon, she would reach 55 atk, instead of 52 at neutral. Sakura has a base of 32 Atk, Then u can use Smoke Dagger that has 12 Mt, instead of Kitty Paddles 8, to reach 44 atk, then LnD allows her to have 49 atk, then the Squad E seal, or any Atk seal get her to that 52 Atk, in the meantime her spd goes from 37 base as +spd to 39 with refine and lastly 44 with LnD, however it comes at a cost of her already low Def to have 9 Def, as well as her good Res which will be 29, you can run Fury instead, she will still have more than 40 spd, and exactly 50 atk, and 37 res so its not all lost, and desperation can occur quicker at that rate 17 def aint going anywhere.... however With the smoke dagger debuff it will allow her to act as if she had 23 def with fury, or 16 with LnD, she may survive one hit from some using Fury at full health, but its not likely for LnD, if she was a +def with LnD, she will be able to survive Some units like Vanguard Ike with 1 HP (it was the free Vike btw), or other lower Atk units including Tempest trials marth. with fury 3 at full health she wuld be able to take hits of physical units of 54 atk, hopefully this offensive Sakura helps

This may seem like an odd build, however it works just fine despite her having the near lowest def in the game, but with a def superboon, her def is reached to 18 base not impressive however with this build her def will be far more impressive. Refinement gives her 21, then you can use Rouge dagger to give yourself a +6 def/res buff to get 27 def and 40 res as well. then on enemy phase you can recieve 33 def with steady stance for range 1 units, and then 39 def for Range 2 units for 39 def and 46 res. Now this is far more impressive considering she barely has a def stat, lastly atk smoke can be used to debuff the enemy's attack so she would have 46 def and 53 res overall because of debuffs and buffs. in the end she can be used to tank a little more and last a bit longer, which is the reason Guard is still used as the B slot, however it be swapped with windsweep, Seal Atk or renewal to keep her on the tanky side

•NOTE: My IV's for my Neko Sakura in my account in this build are -Hp +Spd. However, any IV's that are not -Atk, -Spd, or -Res are compatible.

•This is a build for that is recommended after you have obtained Oliver from the Grand Hero Battle (mainly for the A slot).

•-Hp is an eh bane, however her Spd, Res, and Atk boon is very beneficial for her as a mage killer. Even if her weapon cannot kill any other enemies, her debuff on her weapon is not bad at all.

•Weapon: Kitty Paddle+ is an amazing weapon for killing mages, her best weapon.

•Support Skill: Reposition (or drag back).

•Special: Glacies is Sakura's ultimate attack. Her extremely high res along with an appropriate A slot skill means she can cause a LOT of damage, especially against mages (obviously).

•A Slot: Mirror Strike increases her attack and resistance by 4 while initiating combat, making her stronger against any mage. With Cancel Affinity, her chances of surviving Raven Tombs are exponentially increased (Budget: Warding Stance 3 for pure resistance while being attacked).

•B Slot: Cancel Affinity, as explained above, Increases her survivability against Raven Tombs. Making common threats such as Sophia, Boey, Robin, the new Lyon, and other "effective against colorless" weapon wielding heroes (Budget: Guard 3 if you do not have any Cancel Affinity 3 units).

•C Slot: Defense Ploy is perfect for Neko Sakura to slip in some extra damage as with all Defense Ploy users, due to her high resistance (Budget: Threaten Defense).

•Seal: Atk or Def Ploy is near optimal for her amazing resistance. Resistance Seals decreases damage taken by the mages a little more, also providing a decent boost for her special.

Princess Sakura is a very shy, but kind hearted person. She helps out the team when they are facing magic users. When she is seen speaking with Henry, he normally unloads his arsenal of cat puns, due to Sakura’s festive getup. Always assisting her allies whenever possible, however possible.